Caveat Emptor

Monday, 15 May 2017

Also on the charming side of sentimental are Lars Winnerbäck and Lisa Ekdahl. If you look around there is probably an English translation somewhere out there. The first verse is roughly:

The most beautiful moment in my life is when you came (into it),

And nothing was allowed.

And everything that we did I want to go on,

Because it echoes in my mind.

You get the idea of where this is going... to inevitable tragedy. One thing though. You wouldn't take an English song seriously whose chorus began:

Come angels, come fairies...

I guess it just shows that poetic register can be pretty much untranslatable. What makes perfect sense in one language/culture does not work in another when translated literally. Yes, War and Peace in English is really not the same book it is in Russian.